As the temperatures rise, you may catch yourself spending more time outside with friends and family. When you’re enjoying the warmer weather, the last thing you want to worry about is seeing your lawn with brown splotches. Unfortunately, there are certain pests that can cause a great deal of damage by feeding on your grass.
The White Grub is a particular pest that will destroy your lawn. These six-legged insects are small, white, and “C” shaped. A good indicator that you might have these bugs is seeing additional beetles in your yard. When they infest, they will destroy your grass roots, and as a result, it weakens the area infested. If your grass has ever been easy to lift out of the ground, it’s due to the white grub.
Another insect that can damage your lawn is the Sod Webworm or the larvae of Lawn Moths. Sod Webworms live in the roots of your lawn and will eat the grass leaves. A good indication that you have these pests is noticing that brown patches are continuing to grow throughout your yard. To spot sod webworms, you can also look for them at the root level of grass where you’ll be able to see small white tubes made of a silky web. Sod Webworms are about ¼ – ¾ inch long and gray to tan with small dark spots on the body with brown heads.
A third bug you should be aware of is the Billbug. These bugs are known to chew holes into grass blades, deposit eggs inside, and feed off grass. With a long, curved, bill-like snout, billbugs can grow up to ½ inch in length. These bugs look very similar to a white grub; however, white grubs have legs while billbugs do not. After laying their eggs, the larvae will hatch and begin to eat the grass from inside out from the root to the tips. A clear sign that you may have billbugs in your yard is grass that breaks off at the soil line and has lots of powdery sawdust-like excrement.
If you’ve noticed any of these signs in your yard, it might be time to contact a professional lawn care company who can inspect the damage and provide you with a lawn care plan so that you can enjoy your yard more with this upcoming warmer weather.